OzJet granted air operator's certificate

Australia's newest domestic airline, OzJet, expects to begin flights by the end of the month.

The new all-business class airline has been granted an Air Operator's Certificate today from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority.

"OzJet intends to start flying scheduled services between Australia's two biggest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, at fully-flexible economy prices from Tuesday, November 29, 2005," OzJet said in a statement today.

The airline, run by former Minardi Formula One racing team head Paul Stoddart, said it would start taking bookings today and plans to run eight flights a day, in each direction, between Melbourne and Sydney.

"Our point of difference is going to be price," Mr Stoddart said.

OzJet's standard fare between the two capitals will be A$325, ($349.61) with the return trip A$650.

The airline will have check-in counters at Terminal 2 in Sydney Airport and Terminal 3 in Melbourne Airport.

OzJet intends to extend its services next year to include Brisbane, Adelaide, Canberra and Perth as it increases its fleet from three to up to 10 Boeing 737 aircraft, each of which will have 60 business-class seats.

- AAP